Tentative Agreement (TA) Reached!

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After nearly a year and a half of bargaining, we have reached a TA!  This was a historic fight. We fought for a longevity wage scale that:

  • Establishes rules of the road for step placement
  • Improves alignment with the market
  • Includes new $ for the most senior nurses, equivalent to an extra 1% at Step 21
  • Has improvements that positively impact both recruitment and retention, including by accelerating the pace at which employees receive extra compensation to reward their longevity with the County
  • Maximizes meaningful financial gains
  • Allows for future improvements to the scale

The last year and a half has represented what it looks like when nurses stand up, including:

  • A year and a half fight for a FAIR & STRONG contract (not backing down)
  • Allowing the contract to expire in favor of continuing our unified efforts to achieve our priorities
  • A persistent cascade of ACTIONS - a rally to remember, partnering with the community and local officials, making our voice heard in a variety of forums (Board of Health, King County Council, etc.), escalating our message via social media and media outlets, solidarity efforts (WSNA T-shirts, stickers, petitions, stories, placards) and more

TA Highlights:

We’ve reached numerous TAs between the two bargaining units (Supervisors/Staff). These include, but are not limited to:

  • A 21-Step Longevity Wage Scale to take effect in January 2028 under which every single nurse will make more faster (we rejected the County’s proposal to simply stretch out how long it would take to hit top step!)
  • FULL retroactive payment to January 1, 2026
  • Stronger nondiscrimination language
  • Continuation of reduced Parking at Goat Hill
  • Master’s/Doctoral Step recognition
  • Improvements to Bilingual Pay
  • Non-retaliation for raising staffing concerns
  • Improvements to Continuing Education Money
  • “Rules of the Road” to ensure consistent new hire step placement incorporated into the contract.

Next Steps:

  1. Virtual Information Sessions, dates and full details of all TAs to come
  2. Electronic ratification vote, dates and full details to come  

    Note: A valid and updated email address is the only way to receive your ballot.

    Please ensure your email is up to date by using this link: https://www.wsna.org/membership/update-info
  3. Local Unit Officer nominations and elections following ratification of the contract by WSNA members in good standing
  4. Join the monthly virtual Lunch & Learn – Next meeting June 3rd at 12:05 pm – 12:55 pm 
  5. Make sure you check out your WSNA webpage: https://www.wsna.org/union/seattle-king-county-health-dept-supervisors

A HUGE thank you to each and every one of you that continued to show up throughout this process! Our collective power was vital to getting us to a TA.

WE ARE WSNA!

A Full TA Summary will be available soon.

To vote, you must be a member in good standing. If you are not yet a WSNA member, you can join by the online membership application here https://wsnaonlineapplicationportalwsnaprod.powerappsportals.com/

Your Bargaining Team,
Christopher Salatka, Local Unit Vice-Chair
Zerai Asgedom, Local Unit Grievance Officer

Questions? Contact your Bargaining Team or WSNA Nurse Rep Linda Burbank lburbank@wsna.org